Timeline

1995: Monastery moved from Sydney, New South Wales, to Mangrove Mountain, New South Wales. Holy Transfiguration Monastery becomes a parish, and the brotherhood was given put under the patronage of the Mother of God "Pantanassa" by Archbishop Stylianos. The Pantanassa brotherhood commenced living in a small monastic complex on the side of the mountain below a 200m (approx. 680 ft) cliff.

"Holy Archdiocese of AustraliaHoly Monastery Mother of God the Queen of All"

Monastic Complex

After moving to become the Pantanassa Monastery in 1995, the Brotherhood built a small site to live in until they built the complex that would be the monastery. In 2005, the Brotherhood, after numerous difficulties, began construction at this site, located 50 metres from cliff-face.

Current Monastic Complex

Currently the Brotherhood lives, works and prays at a small monastic complex on the side of Mangrove Mountain, below a 200 metre cliff, where there is a small chapel dedicated to Sts Ephraim and Isaac the Syrians, living quarters sufficient for the monks, an iconography studio (the primary source of income), a candle-making factory, St. Joseph's joinery workshop. Other structures from the complex include a secluded cabin named after ElderPaisios the Athonite (+1994), a set of beehives, a timber cabin used for confessional and bookshop, an outdoor chapel with a 6 metre timber crucifix used during the Patriarch's 1996 visit, and a cave dedicated to St. Anna. There are also numerous dams on the property for water, the largest dam being adjacent to St. Patrick's fields.

New Monastic Complex

Building works started on the new monastic complex site at the top of the mountain on 27 May 2005. The preparatory works began with excavating the mountain to provide three flat levels for buildings to go on, which were completed by the July 2005 foundation ceremony. During further excavation, a 400 metre (~1350 ft) driveway through forest to the building site was constructed and completed in August 2005. There are three stages involved in the construction of the new monastic complex:

Includes the new chapel, the first section of the living quarters, sufficient for the present number of monks.

Includes the remainder of the living quarters for the monks.

Includes the iconography studio.

Other structures include the office, the confessional, the library, guest accomodation, and the refectory (opp. entrance of church, adj. to main entry).

The new monastic complex is designed to have the layout and aesthetics of a traditional Athonite monastery by having the main church in the middle of a cloistered quadrangle. This formation is intended to have a fortress effect, by appearing solid and uninviting to outsiders, its few openings giving little opportunity for interaction; whereas to those welcomed into the complex, having a softer style of architecture and opening with a continuous arched cloister and details reminiscent of Athonite structures.